Unlocking The Secrets of Top Gun Pilot and Nuclear Aircraft Carrier Commander Mike Manazir

3 min readApr 26, 2024

He flew over 3,750 fighter hours with 1,240 arrested landings on multiple aircraft carriers. He completed five tours at the Pentagon. Former Top Gun fighter pilot and Retired Two-Star Admiral Mike Manazir spent 36 years in the United States Navy with 15 overseas deployments. His duties included Deputy Chief of Naval Operations, Warfighting Systems.

Today, Manazir is Vice President of Navy Systems, Government Operations for The Boeing Company. He’s also a sought-after speaker.

His book: Learn How to Lead to Win, is a collection of stories and lessons from his tenure in the U.S. Navy.

Communications is a key component when managing high performance teams in chaotic environments and risky operations, such as a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier like the USS Nimitz or commanding an F-14 squadron. Manazir has seen it all and then some. What he does with his books, speaking, and message is teach others how to lead from their heart and not their title.

Arrested Landings

Navy pilots have a specific skill compared to an air force pilot: arrested landings. They learn how to take off and land an aircraft carrier.

Manazir says it’s common for people not to know that it’s the naval aviators who fly on and off a navy ship. Most assume it’s the Air Force. This is part of a naval aviator’s basic training.

“The first time I landed on a carrier was in 1983, late 1982 in a T-2 Buckeye, which is a big fat training airplane. The last thing you do is practice landing on a field, which is called field carry landing practice or bouncing. You go out and do bounces and then you go to the ship and get six-day landings.”

This is the last task. If the pilot passes those six-day landings, then they move on to advanced jet training.

Powering a Ship Has Evolved

Ships went from two boilers to four-boiler operations, where you would light the boilers, and it becomes fuel. Before boilers, it was coal.

Using nuclear energy is just another way to heat water. It boils the water into steam and steam runs the turbines, which power the ship. However, it’s more complicated, so there is a year and a half of training at nuclear power school. Servicemen have different ratings, too. There are no stokers on a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.

Transferring Naval Aviation Command into the Corporate World

The business world has a reputation as being dog-eat-dog. Manazir will tell you outright that culture will not produce a high performing team or a high performing company. Turnover will be high, too.

“People will leave if they don’t feel valued or if they feel like they can’t trust management. They feel no psychological safety and will leave the company.”

What’s left is a culture of competitive backbiters that affect the performance of the organization. Manazir specializes in transforming chaotic environments into well operating teams.